


Philia

by mf_posey



Series: happy birthday series: Harry Potter Soulmate AU [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Fluff, Multi, No Incest, Polyamory, Post-Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Slow Build, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, The Golden Trio Era (Harry Potter), have you seen my hufflebuddy?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27868618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mf_posey/pseuds/mf_posey
Summary: She only has one date on her wrist, so she must have only one soulmate. Right?
Relationships: Fred Weasley & George Weasley & Original Female Character(s), Fred Weasley/George Weasley/Original Female Character(s), Fred Weasley/Original Female Character(s), George Weasley/Original Female Character(s)
Series: happy birthday series: Harry Potter Soulmate AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040274
Kudos: 38





	1. Before Year One

It is her tenth birthday. Delia sat up in her bed and immediately looked to her left arm. There it was, her soulmark, her soulmate’s birthday tattooed right there on her wrist.

_April 1st, 1978_

She giggled at the thought of her soulmate before leaving her bed and running to wake her older brother Ambrose, he didn't take kindly to being jumped on at nine in the morning on a Saturday. Then again neither did her parents, but they were certainly more welcoming of it than Ambrose was. It was her birthday! Certainly, they can make an exception for today.

Her mother seemed to be the most excited of them all besides Delia. Her little girl was growing up, she had just gotten her soulmark, and next year she’d be off to Hogwarts. While making a breakfast consisting of pancakes, bacon, and assorted fruits, Seela spoke up.

“So… Delia, do you know who your soulmate is?” She asked excitedly, itching to know anything about her daughter’s soulmate. Delia’s father, Matthias, groaned before speaking.

“Seela, leave her alone, she’ll probably meet them at Hogwarts”. Matthias gave his wife a look as she looked worriedly towards Ambrose before looking back at Delia.

“Dad’s right mom, I’ll meet them at Hogwarts”. Delia ended the conversation before digging into her breakfast.

Later that evening the small family gathered around the dining room table. They had just finished dinner and were now on to the cake. Delia had demanded a chocolate cake with strawberries, how could her parents say no, they had only just recently gotten her to like strawberries in the first place and now she was obsessed. The family sang to Delia before she blew out the candles. She didn’t wish for anything physical. No. She wished for her prince charming, her soulmate.

A few months later Ambrose leaves for Hogwarts that September. Delia goes to Kings Cross with her parents to see him off and bumps into a boy with red hair, he looks to be her age. It's a quick and almost meaningless interaction. But Delia swore she felt a tingle in her arm for that split second the two had come in contact with one another.

Christmas break, Delia is on Platform 9 ¾ again to pick up her brother for the holidays. She stands there next to her mother in her wool coat waiting impatiently for the Hogwarts express. She sees the boy that she bumped into back in September, she vaguely remembers the moment. The boy stands there with his family, a boy looking exactly like him is standing next to him, the two boys are whispering to each other and laughing. Delia watches them, she notices the small differences between the boys but before she can exactly point them out in her mind, she is distracted by the Hogwarts express pulling into the station. By the time she looks back to where the boys had once stood, the boys were gone, having already left with their family.

The Christmas holiday was just like any other, Ambrose answered all of Delia’s questions about Hogwarts. Their mother asked Ambrose if he had met his soulmate yet, he responds with a sullen no, he is thirteen and still hasn’t met them. Delia, the ever-curious child she is, asks her brother about his soulmate: “why haven’t you found them yet Ambrose?” he responds: “I don’t know Deli”. Delia didn’t know the date Ambrose had on his arm, she never asked, mum told her it was impolite. That year she didn't get much for Christmas, but she didn't mind. She was content with her two new sweaters and a pair of fluffy socks, she was always a fan of cozy socks. Ambrose had also gotten a new sweater as well as some books that he looked very excited about, she guessed that was the Ravenclaw in him. They didn't do very much for the rest of the Christmas holiday, but again Delia didn't mind. Although, she was lucky to pull Ambrose from his new books long enough to get him to play in the snow with her.

Delia’s eleventh birthday is a day of celebration. Not unlike the year before, she woke her family before requesting they get out of bed immediately, it was her birthday, what were they laying around for! Her brother bought her candy and a book, she thought he was trying to get her to be more like him, but she still very much enjoyed the book. Her mother and father got her the best present of all though; a kitten! Mum said that she ought to have a friend for Hogwarts and since Ambrose got an owl in his first year, she would get a cat. This gift made the day Delia’s best birthday yet, she had been wanting a cat for many years now, and it seemed her years of begging had paid off. Her dad made her favorite breakfast of chocolate pancakes and strawberries while she played with her new kitten, she’d have to think of a name for the feline. Although her gifts were amazing, the most exciting part of the day came when she received her Hogwarts letter just after breakfast. She jumped up and down squealing for about five minutes before her dad finally got her to calm down.

The rest of the day’s celebrations went by in a flash. She went to bed that night with a smile on her face, her, still unnamed, kitten lying in the bed with her. That was when she finally came up with the perfect name, “you shall be called Adora”. The cat gave a small purr as if to say she liked the name. When Delia fell asleep only minutes later, the smile on her face couldn’t have been brighter.

Her first visit to Diagon Alley couldn’t have been more magical. Sure she had been to Diagon Alley before, but this was different. This year she wasn’t just going for a book or two or new clothes, this time she was getting her school supplies. Not only that but she was getting her wand today!

She remembered when Ambrose went to Diagon Alley for his school supplies the first time. She had spent the day with her Aunt Ellory. Ellory was a kind woman who found herself often liking the company of animals better than humans. She was a magizoologist and a werewolf advocate. For these reasons, Delia looked up to her immensely. Often she asked her aunt about soulmates, but Ellory could never answer, as she had yet to find her own. When Ellory brought her home that evening, Ambrose excitedly told her all about what they did that day, from all the books he got to getting his wand finally.

But today she was going to get her own wand and she couldn’t be more excited. She woke up bright and early, which was highly unusual for Delia. But she was just too excited. Of course her mother, Seela was already awake and making breakfast, she always was an early riser. She wasn’t surprised that she was up early this morning, today was a big day after all. Not long after Delia sat down at the breakfast table, her father and brother came down as well, Ambrose especially was surprised to see her out of bed and dressed before nine in the morning. They didn’t leave the house for Diagon Alley until eleven, to Delia’s annoyance. But when the family did leave, she was bouncing with excitement.

One would think she had never been to the alley before by the look on her face as they arrived. They went to Flourish & Blotts first, for her school books, then Madame Malkins so she could get fitted for her robes. They went to many other stores, but she didn’t pay much attention to them. She was itching to get her wand, but Seela told her that they would go there last. She could barely contain herself when her mother began walking towards Ollivander’s wand shop. This was it! She was about to get her wand!

The pair stepped inside of the small shop, which was at the moment empty but scuffling could be heard coming from the back of the shop, however, it stopped when the bell above the door rang signaling that customers had come inside. An old man, who Delia assumed was Ollivander, came quickly up a small aisle between shelves of wand boxes. He smiled at the two as he came up to the counter.

"Ah, hello young lady, here to get your first wand are you?"

Delia smiled brightly as she replied: "Yes sir". The man gave her a kind smile before turning around to procure a wand from the tall shelves. She first tried a teak wand that was about eight inches with a dragon heartstring core, but it wasn't right. She tried a few different wands before Mr. Ollivander brought out the last wand.

"Let us see if this is the fit for you. It is made of juniper with a length of ten inches and has a core of unicorn hair".

The wand was absolutely beautiful, with vine-like detailing. She gave it a small wave and gasped as warmth enveloped her and an orange light shined from the tip of the wand. She looked to her mother and then to Mr. Ollivander, both smiling down at her. She left the shop with the widest grin on her face, a smile that would not leave her face for the rest of the day.


	2. The Train and Sorting

September first couldn’t come quick enough according to Delia. Once it did come though, she was bursting at the seams with excitement, she couldn’t wait to go to school and learn magic, but she was also nervous. She was going to a whole new place, where her only friend was Ambrose, but she probably wouldn’t even be in the same house as him, he was in Ravenclaw, and as smart as Delia was, that wasn’t where she wanted to be. She knew she wasn’t well suited for Slytherin, or at least that was what her father, Matthias, had said. That left Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. She wasn’t sure which she would be sorted into, but she would be happy with either.

The day came for Delia to board the Hogwarts Express with her brother. She was both extremely nervous and excited for this day. Neither stopped her from sleeping in as long as her mother would let her, which wasn’t very long. She waltzed into Delia’s room and threw the covers off of the bed, she walked swiftly out of the room to wake up Ambrose but not before telling her not to go back to sleep and that breakfast would be ready in ten minutes.

The morning was going to be hectic. Delia scrambled to get out of bed and beat Ambrose to their shared bathroom for a shower, and succeeded. She went downstairs for breakfast where she was met with the wonderful smell of french toast and strawberries, courtesy of her father. Her contentment did not last as she sat down, she was immediately bombarded with questions from her mother. 

Did she sleep well?

Was she excited?

Did she pack everything?

Did she even check that she had everything? 

That was when her father stepped in and laid his hands on Seela’s shoulders and told her to calm down, that everything would be fine. Matthias was always the calmer of the two parents. Ambrose was slammed with the same questions when he arrived at the breakfast table, he simply rolled his eyes, she asked him these questions every year and he still had never forgotten anything at home.

After breakfast, Seela dragged her daughter back up the stairs to check her trunk then moving on to her son’s. Departure from the home was less stressful, Seela was a very organized woman who always liked to be early. Delia was getting even more nervous as they were about to leave the home. She took one last look around her bedroom before she left, she wouldn’t be back for 3 months. As she walked to the front door to meet her family and finally depart, she looked around the house, trying to memorize every small detail, like she would never see it again. She knew she was being dramatic, she would be home for Christmas. But she had never been away from home for so long before. The longest was when she and Ambrose had to stay with Aunt Ellory for two weeks while mom and dad went on their tenth-anniversary vacation four years ago. 

The small family left the home minutes later, apparating to Kings Cross Station. Delia had her trunk and Adora’s basket on a cart as she pushed her way through the crowd with her family. She knew she had to go to Platform 9 ¾ but she wasn’t sure how to get there. Every other time she had gone to Kings Cross with her family to pick up or drop off Ambrose, they took the floo onto the platform or apparated onto the platform; so she had never gone through the actual entrance. This time, however, she would be.

The family arrived at a wall in between platforms and nine and ten, she looked to her mother and father confused. 

That was until Ambrose ran right at the wall. 

She let out a small gasp as her eyes widened as she watched her brother run straight through the wall rather than collide with it. Her parents looked at her with smiles on their faces as they saw her awestruck face. They told her exactly what to do to get onto the platform, and she did it. Ambrose was waiting on the other side for her, although she could tell that he already spotted his friends and wanted to go to them. Seela noticed this as well when she stepped onto the platform as she brought her son into a tight hug. Matthias did the same and told him to be good this year before letting him go to his friends. Seela then brought Delia into an even tighter hug, Matthias could be heard laughing at his wife as Delia slowly suffocated from the strength of her mother’s hug. When her mother finally pulled away, she took in a gasp of air, preparing for the same kind of hug from her father. However, Matthias was more gentle in his hug. The two parents crouched down to Delia’s short height and gave her the pep talk of a lifetime and somehow, Delia didn’t feel so nervous anymore. 

After another round of hugs, she left her parents to board the train. She walked down the aisle of the train looking for an empty compartment to read her new book, a muggle book called “A Ring of Endless Light”, she had picked it up in the book store in her town only a week ago and thought it would be a good idea to bring it on the train. She got comfortable on the seat before moving to take her book out of her bag. She was interrupted by the door of the compartment sliding open. 

There in the doorway stood the two red-haired boys she had seen on the platform the previous year.

“Can we sit with you? Everywhere else is full”. They peak their heads into the compartment and she quickly nods, “yes”, eager to make new friends.

She takes her hand out of her bag, she’ll read later, potential friends are more important. The boys sit down across from her before introducing themselves.

“Hi”, they say at the same time. She giggles a little at the boys, they smile back at her. 

“I’m Fred Weasley”, one of the twins tells her as he puts forth his hand for her to shake, which she does.

“And I’m George Weasley”, the other twin tells her as he does the same. 

“I’m Delia Clover, nice to meet you”. She tells them. They reply in unison: ”nice to meet you too”. She then asked them: “Do you have any idea which house you’ll get sorted into?”

The two boys nodded in sync with proud grins. “We’ll be in Gryffindor, no doubt. Our whole family has been in Gryffindor, two of our older brothers are in Gryffindor now. What about you?” It was George who answered her.

“I’m not sure. My dad was in Gryffindor and my brother, Ambrose, is in Ravenclaw. I think I’d like Gryffindor or Hufflepuff though”. Delia smiled at the two boys. 

“What year is your brother in? Our brothers might know him”. George asked.

“He’s in third year. What year are your brothers in?” Delia replied. Fred answered this time.

“Well Bill graduated last year, Charlie is in sixth year, Percy is in third year, and we have another brother and sister but they’re younger than us”. 

“Wow, it's cool that you have so many siblings. I wish I had a bunch of siblings, Ambrose isn’t very fun”. The three laughed together at that.

“Percy isn’t any fun either, they’re probably friends”. The laughter continued.

“What about your mum? Did she go to Hogwarts?” Fred asked.

No, she and my aunt went to Durmstrang”. The two boys, in sync, said: “cool” in a tone of wonder.

“What’s Durmstrang like? Did your mum ever tell you?” Fred asked excitedly.

“Mum and Aunt Ellory always say that they hated it. They told me that they’re super prejudiced and teach dark arts at Durmstrang, mum says it's not right for them to teach that stuff to children. They both say they wished that they went to Hogwarts but Finland was too far away for them to be admitted”. As Delia explained, the twins listened to her every word on the edge of their seats. They couldn’t believe that Durmstrang taught their students dark arts, their mum would have a heart attack if she heard they were teaching that at Hogwarts. 

“Hogwarts is better then. I knew it”. The group doubled over in laughter again. When the laughter dwindled, the compartment became silent. Delia wasn’t sure how to continue the conversation so she said the first thing that came to mind.

“What’s your favorite color?

“Yellow”.

“Purple”

Fred and George, respectfully, answered before asking her the same.

“Mine’s green”. The twins pulled a face at that, to which she responded. “What’s wrong with green?”

“Green is a Slytherin color”, said Fred.

“So… it's not like I’m gonna be in Slytherin. Besides, I like a more light green than a dark green”.

“Okay, I guess you have a point”, said Fred with his head down, he had realized he sounded a tad rude and felt bad about it.

That was when George asked her: “Do you like quidditch?”, he looked very excited to hear her answer. Fred looked the same as he perked up.

“I don’t play, but I like watching”. The boys didn’t care that she didn’t play, she still liked quidditch. They continued to speak about quidditch for the next hour. 

“So, if you don’t play quidditch, then what do you do for fun?” Fred asked, they had just finished talking about how the twins often played quidditch with their many siblings.

“Well, I like to read, I like plants. Oh! My Aunt Ellory has a bunch of magical creatures at her cabin, I love playing with them. My dad and I used to bake together all the time. My house is right by the ocean so I go swimming all the time. Guess I never needed quidditch to keep me occupied”.

“We live in the middle of nowhere. The village is miles away from the house and we barely ever go into town”, said George exasperated.

They spoke about what they liked to do until they reached Hogwarts.

~

The train reaches Hogsmeade Station hours later and the trio is now in their uniforms.

“First Years!” She hears a very large man yell as he waves his hand to get the crowd of first-years to follow him to the docks.

She walks side by side with them to the boats, following the crowd of other first years. They get on a boat with another boy already on it.

“Hi, Lee Jordan, nice to meet you”. He introduces himself. The group introduces themselves to Lee.” What house do you guys think you’re going to be in?” He asks before answering his own question.” Mum says I’ll be in Gryffindor with all the mischief I cause around the house”. The group laughs with him, Fred and George begin talking about how their mother is always yelling at them for pranking their siblings.

All four children in the boat, as well as all of the other first years, were awestruck as they rounded a hill that obstructed their view. It was then that they first saw the castle, it was beautiful at night, the golden lights from the rooms in the castle could be seen shining brightly. It was quite a sight to see.

The inside of the castle was even more fascinating. She and many others looked up at the walls of paintings and the architecture as we walked towards the stairs to what must be the great hall. As they walked those stairs, a tall, slightly intimidating but ultimately kind-looking woman came into view. 

When we reached her she introduced herself as Professor McGonagall. This got Delia excited. Matthias had told her all about her, he was a Gryffindor when he was at Hogwarts, his favorite subject was transfiguration and he always looked up to the professor. He told her to be nice to Professor McGonagall, not like she didn’t already know that though. He also told her to say hello for him, because apparently Ambrose never does.  
Ambrose always told her about how Professor Flitwick was the best teacher, but she always thought he was a little biased. Professor McGonagall looked nice though, worthy of all the good things her father had said. She told them to wait in the hall for a moment and the sorting ceremony would begin shortly. Ambrose had never told her about the sorting, so to say she was nervous would be an understatement. The twins beside her had the same look of anxiety on their faces as she did as she turned towards them. 

“Did your brothers tell you anything about the sorting?”She asked them. 

“Our brother, Charlie, told us that we would have to fight a troll to be sorted”. That didn’t help Delia’s anxiety as Professor McGonnagal came back to lead them into the Great Hall. She looked up at the bewitched ceiling in awe and then to the front of the hall in nervousness. But her anxiety settled when she realized that there was no troll, simply a stool with a hat sitting on it. The group of first years came up to the front of the hall and the hat began to sing a silly song about the four houses. 

When the hat was done singing, Professor McGonnagal picked up the hat and began calling up students to be sorted. Before long it was Delia’s turn, it really did suck being at the front of the alphabet. “Clover, Delia!” The professor announced, she smiled down at Delia as she walked up the steps towards the stool. She sat down and the hat was placed on her head. 

“Ah, Miss Clover, where to put you? Your brother is in Ravenclaw, however hardworking, you may not reach your full potential there. There is ambition but no cunning, not Slytherin. Your father was in Gryffindor in his days, Gryffindor would help you succeed no doubt with your courage to help others. But there is something else, a strong sense of loyalty and patience beyond your years. Yes… I know where to put you. Better be… Hufflepuff!” She stood up from the stool as the Hufflepuff table erupted in applause and cheers, not unlike the other tables when a new student was sorted into their houses. However, the loudest clapping and cheering came from the Ravenclaw table, from her brother Ambrose. He stood above all of his friends and looked up at her with a proud smile as he cheered her on. Delia walked to the Hufflepuff table with the brightest smile. She would be happy here. This was only solidified as she sat down next to a brown-haired boy.

“Hello, I’m Cedric Diggory, nice to meet you”. The boy introduced himself.

“Delia Clover”.

The feast soon began and Cedric kept speaking to her. The boy was very outgoing and led a conversation with her, his unwavering kindness towards her encouraged her to participate. The two children spoke about their favorite foods on the table, about being in Hufflepuff, family, anything. The boy was a pureblood but you wouldn’t know from how he spoke about the muggle books that he has read. They bonded over their love of good literature. Delia spoke to a few of the other first-year Hufflepuffs throughout dinner, but they weren’t very interesting.

When she finally went to bed that evening, she was exhausted by the exciting day. She introduced herself to her roommates but did little else before falling asleep.


	3. New Friends

The first week of classes was stressful. The amount of homework she had was something that she certainly was not used to. Her mother had homeschooled her until June. It was getting easier though, she slowly had been learning her way around the castle and quickly got used to the amount of studying she had to do to keep up. Delia took after her mother with her time management skills. She may not have been a Ravenclaw, but she was certainly intelligent and determined.

That day she had Potions in the dungeons with the Slytherins. She had heard much about Professor Snape from what the twins had heard from their brothers. They told her that he was as evil as they come. He hated anyone who wasn’t in Slytherin house and would accept nothing but perfection. The man was stoic and cruel, they joked about how no one had ever seen him smile, they doubted he was capable. Many of the other students were afraid of the man. However, Delia had been taught to not judge others based on rumors alone, so she was not afraid of the man. She had no reason to be afraid of the man, Ambrose surely would have told her if he were truly evil. But perhaps he was immune to Professor Snape’s wrath, what with him being such a perfect Ravenclaw.

When she arrived at the classroom, Cedric was already seated with his other friends. She was not yet friends with these boys, she had yet to even learn their names, so she did not go up to them to say hello to Cedric. Instead she sat at a table not very far from him.

The classroom quickly filled and before long, the only seat left was next to her. Just then a girl with a head full of curls ran into the room and quickly took the seat next to Delia. It was then that she noticed the color of the girls robes:

Green

The girl was a Slytherin. 

Why was a Slytherin sitting next to her? 

The Slytherin girl, of which she did not know the name of, kept her head down for much of the lesson before finally looking up at Delia. She introduced herself as Noemi Zabini. The girl had a sarcastic kind of attitude towards her. For the rest of the lesson she often whispered short jokes about the other students in the room. However, there were never any about Professor Snape, it seemed the girl looked up to him a tad too much for her to make any jokes about him. Delia tried her absolute hardest to contain her laughter, she had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep the laughter from escaping. She would not be the person who lost Hufflepuff points in the first week of classes. 

Once class was over and the two girls had made it out into the hallway, however, she burst into giggles. The two girls stood there in the hallway for a minute or so, laughing together.   
“What class do you have next?” Noemi asked 

“Charms”. She replied.

“Oh I have Herbology with the Gryffindors blegh”. Noemi was not one for plants or obnoxious Gryffindors. They walked together until they reached the hallway between the charms classroom and the pathway leading to the greenhouses. Before they separated Delia spoke up.

“Would you want to study together in the library after classes?” She hesitantly asked. Noemi’s face quickly brightened with a smile. 

“Oh yes! I would love to! You probably took much better notes in potions than I did today, I could use the help”. The girls laughed together at that before bidding each other goodbye.

Later that day, she walked with Cedric to Defense Against the Dark Arts, their last class of the day. The two had been speaking about the homework they had in each class and discussing the things they had learned in Charms earlier. That was until Cedric brought up Potions.

“Why was that Slytherin girl sitting next to you in Potions?” He asked with both curiosity and worry on his face. The boy truly hoped that the Slytherin hadn’t sat next to Delia to make fun of her. 

“Well, the seat next to me was the last one left”. She said, unsure of what he meant by his question.

“I understand that, but what did she say? Was she rude to you?” He hoped his suspicions were wrong, he hadn’t seen her until she arrived at Professor Flitwick’s classroom, as he had left the dungeons with his other friends before she had.

“I appreciate your concern, Cedric, but it is not needed. She is actually very funny, her name is Noemi. We’re doing our homework together in the library after class if you would like to join us”. Delia had only a few friends, but she hoped all of her friends could also be friends. 

Cedric was hesitant to reply as they stepped inside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. He thought all Slytherins were bullies, but Delia spoke about Noemi like the girl was truly kind. He wouldn’t believe it until he saw it though, so he’d have to see it. The two sat next to each other at a desk near the front of the room before Cedric gave his answer.

“Okay, I’ll join you both, someone has to be there to stick up for you when she says something”. Delia frowned at that, she had not known Noemi very long, but she didn’t seem to be the bullying type. But if she turned out to be, Cedric wouldn’t be needed. Delia could easily hold her own, and she hates bullies. 

Defense Against the Dark Arts seemed to go by so slowly, perhaps it was because Delia was shaking with excitement to study with her friends later. But it also could have been her professor droning on and on about ghosts. Delia really wanted to get to learning some spells, she was most excited about really being able to do magic. When class finally ended, she jumped from her seat, basically dragging Cedric from the classroom and towards the library.

The pair arrive at the library before Noemi and find a table for them all to sit at, it doesn’t take long for Noemi to arrive though.

“I’m sorry, were you waiting long? I had to come all the way from History of Magic”. She put her stuff down and pulled out a chair for herself before gasping. “Oh, I’m sorry, forgive my manners. I’m Noemi Zabini, and you are?” She put out her hand for Cedric to shake politely.

He accepted her hand to shake it before introducing himself, not without hesitation. “I’m Cedric Diggory”. Noemi then sat down and pulled out her potions textbook.

“Are we starting with potions?” She asked. Cedric and Delia both nodded before gathering their own textbooks and materials.

Noemi didn’t have the best focus and would often make a random comment or joke while the three were working, but no one asked her to stop. If Cedric were being honest, he actually thought those comments were quite funny. Perhaps he had been wrong about all Slytherins being bullies, Noemi seemed nice.

The group only got through their potions assignment before becoming overwhelmed with laughter from one of Noemi’s comments. Instead of getting back to work immediately, they pushed away their books and just laughed with each other. Surprisingly, even Cedric added a few jokes to the group. The smiles ceased to leave their faces and their laughter kept coming. At least not until Ms. Pince, the librarian, came around the corner and very sternly told them to either be quiet or leave.

Their laughter quickly died down after that and their chatting lowered to small whispers here and there as they got back to the rest of their assignments. Delia moved on to her Charms homework, as did Cedric, and Noemi worked on her Herbology homework. Perhaps worked would be an overstatement as it was mostly her making very frustrated grunts into her textbook. Delia quickly moved to help the girl who was clearly struggling with herbology, her second favorite subject besides charms. Noemi could not seem to find the uses and distinctions of dittany. Delia found the section of Noemi’s textbook which told her the answer before moving back to her own homework. Sure she just tell Noemi the answer, but what was the fun in that?

It wasn’t long before the sound of excited chatter reached the group’s ears, each of them looking up from their books to the source of the noise. It seemed Ms. Pince had fallen asleep at her desk and was unable to hear the loud voices of Fred and George Weasley as they walked through the library. The twins were looking around the large room frantically, as if searching for something, or rather someone. The boys’ heads suddenly stopped as they met the eyes of Delia. With that, in a matter of seconds they reached her and her two friends. She smiled, happy to see them and introduce them to her new friends.

“Delia! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Fred started loudly before George elbowed him in the ribs seeing Ms. Pince give them a heated glare and he lowered his voice.

“You didn’t look very hard, I’ve been here since classes ended”. Delia said with a giggle. Fred and George simply gave her an annoyed look. “Oh! These are my new friends, Cedric and Noemi. Cedric, Noemi, meet Fred and George”. Cedric and Noemi waved and smiled at the twins.

“Very nice to meet you”, the twins spoke in sync then George continued. “And we are very sorry but we must steal Delia from you”. The girl in question gave them a confused look.

“What? You got sorted into Hufflepuff and we haven’t seen you since the train! Come on!” It was Fred who spoke and urged her to leave the library with them.

Delia laughed. “Okay, I’m done with my work I’m coming”. She turned to her other friends that were still sat at the table. “I’ll see you both later”. She said with a smile before allowing Fred and George to pull her out of the library. The trio walks down to the black lake, the twins telling her silly things to make her laugh the entire way there. By the time they sit down under a tree just a few feet from the water’s edge, Delia is laughing hysterically, the twins laughing with her. They take a few moments to catch their breath before they speak again. The sun is just starting to set in front of them. The view of the sun’s evening glow reflecting on the black lake is breathtaking.

“How are your classes?” Delia asks.

“Not so bad, we made a few friends in our house, but almost all of our classes are with Slytherins...blegh”. It was Fred that spoke.

“Not all Slytherins are bad”. 

“They’re all just a bunch of bloody tossers, Deli, they say there’s never been a bloke who was sorted into Slytherin that didn’t come out bad”. Fred spoke again. Delia had begun to notice that Fred was definitely the twin that took charge more often while George remained more soft spoken.

“Well Noemi is a Slytherin and she’s not bad, she’s actually very nice, nothing like any of the other Slytherins I’ve met so far”. Both buys looked up at her in concern when she finished, both thinking that she meant that someone had said something to her. She caught their thoughts and put them to rest quickly. “They all just seem very rude, Noemi is the only one I’ve ever seen smile”. The twins smiled at that, maybe Noemi was different. “Tell me about your new friends though”. Said Delia after a few moments of silence. 

“There’s Lee Jordan, he’s really funny and a big quidditch fan, we’re thinking about doing some pranks with him. Then, Angelina Johnson, also a big quidditch fan. Then, Alicia Spinnet, she’s muggleborn so she doesn’t know much about quidditch but we’ll teach her. Oh, and Oliver Wood, he’s a third year and on the quidditch team”. George described each of their new friends, the common factor being quidditch.

“Oliver never shuts up about quidditch”. Fred added.

“By the way, who’s your favorite quidditch team?” George asked. Delia felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

“I don’t have one, I don’t really know too much about quidditch”. Both boys gasped at that.

“What?!” They yelled in sync before calming down. “Don’t worry we’ll teach you.

By now, the sky had become much darker as the sun set. They should be going inside for dinner now. It seems that the twins also realized this as they stood up, each putting out a hand to help Delia up. She smiled up at them as she stood and they began walking back up to the castle.

“Will you sit with us tomorrow at breakfast? We’ll introduce you to all of our friends”. George asks her when they reach the Great Hall.

“That would be lovely”. She answers before saying goodbye and taking her seat at the Hufflepuff table beside Cedric.


End file.
